When I graduated from high school my Dad made me a plaque to hang in my dorm room over my desk. It has a poem on it and at the top it said, “Life is a journey, not a destination!” I treasure that little plaque.

I can’t say I fully understood the quote at that stage in life. But I treasure the gift. It’s funny, of all the gifts my father gave me, including my red Pontiac Sunbird convertible, That plaque meant more to me than anything else.

He has been gone for 27 years now. But his memory lives in my heart. And every time I think of him I think of those words, “Life is a journey, not a destination.” I remembered those words the first time I qualified for the Boston Marathon. I thought if I could just qualify for Boston, I would be filled with joy. And when I did qualify for Boston at the Chicago marathon, I sat at the fountain on Michigan Avenue and thought “I did it”. But then it dawned on me that Joy truly wasn’t in qualifying. It was in all the hours and miles running by myself in the rain, in the sun, in the heat and in the snow. Those endless miles were life,that was the joy. That was the journey.

The journey was what I really treasured. Thanks Dad!

And now today as I walk this trail in Sedona with my family, I again think of my dad, and I truly understand that quote.

It really doesn’t matter where the trail leads. Majic is in walking the trail with those you love and cherish, and being present in every moment with no concern of what lies ahead or what went behind, but being in the now.

Hey dad, I finally truly understand life is IN the journey not the destination!